Write or Acquire a Screenplay? Here’s How To Take Action!
Do you write or acquire a screenplay? Think about it. Screenwriting is the heavy lifting for your movie. Without a good script, you …
Screenwriter
I Wrote A Screenplay, Now What?
If you just wrote a screenplay, congratulations. You just completed one of the hardest things to do in Hollywood. And if you’re like …
How to Become The Screenwriter Hollywood Needs
If you want to get your script noticed in Hollywood—and your talents compensated for—then you cannot be just a ‘good’ screenwriter, you’ve gotta be great!
How To Use Foreshadowing In Your Screenplay
To avoid having any one element of foreshadowing be too obvious, often the writer will throw in some red herrings–some things that could be foreshadowing but in fact don’t pay off or pay off in a different way than we expect. The person who has the gun in the drawer may become an immediate suspect in our minds, but later maybe we see him use it to light his cigarette and we realize it’s not a real gun (of course he may have a real one somewhere else….). That kind of misdirection keeps the audience guessing.
Screenwriting Advice: Write The WORST Scene Ever!
I’ve been privileged enough not only to work as a screenwriter for the last twenty years but to talk to many other screenwriters …
5 Tips For New Screenwriters Who Want To Avoid The Trash
When I read screenplays for a producer, many of the screenplays I read were unprofessional. In this article, I list 5 tips for avoiding the trash can.
Why Finishing A Crappy First Draft Is Essential For Screenwriters
Screenwriting is starts by writing a crappy first draft. And the real writing begins in the rewrite. This is because nobody writes a …
Use This Secret Filmmaking Strategy So You Can Get Your Film Made
Have you ever known a filmmaker who sent their demo reel into the Hollywood abyss? Maybe they sent it to an agency or a production company in hopes someone would discover their talent and hire them. Similarly, many screenwriters and aspiring actors have been known to employ this strategy too.
How To Write A Screenplay You Can Produce (Yourself)
Listen. If you’re an ambitious writer, I’m going to tell you a secret. There is no better feeling in the world than the day you stop sending query letters and instead, you start producing your own work. For years and years, you have dreamed about seeing your work on the big screen. You know you’re good. So why ask for permission?
Why Screenwriting Agents Won’t Read Your Script (And What To Do)
If you are a screenwriter seeking screenwriting agents, stop. Read this article to find out alternatives to seeking screenwriting agents.
How To Sell Your Screenplay
If you want to know how to sell your screenplay, you’re in luck. When I was working for an indie producer in New …
Aspiring screenwriter: Go Hollywood or go indie?
Because I’ve written a few books about screenwriting I sometimes get questions from people just starting out on their careers. One query that has started coming up more often recently is whether it’s better to chase the Hollywood dream or get involved with indie films, including ones made for the web…
When It’s Time To Divorce Your Agent
People always point out that a relationship with an agent is something like a marriage, but without the sex (usually). Which means that sometimes there will be a divorce—at this point, the high profile one is J. K. Rowling dumping hers…
What Screenwriters Can Learn From Documentary Filmmakers
I think what we can learn from documentary makers is to pause before we launch into the obvious story and dig deeper to see if there’s a more interesting, perhaps more subtle, one lurking underneath…
Tennessee Williams’ advice to screenwriters
You don’t really want totally arbitrary events in your script, but if you need to capture their attention, put it in and then in the next draft work your way backward in the story so it has some motivation…
Screenwriting: write what you don’t know
An interesting twist on the old “write what you know” adage comes from aspiring screenwriter Mark McCann, who also is a policeman. One …
Screenwriting Tips – Hope for shy screenwriters
Shy and awkward is how screenwriter Seth Lochead describes himself. When he was starting out he felt he had to choose between building his career by socializing or by writing a great script.
Screenwriting How To Protect Your Material
Since starting Filmmaking Stuff, many screenwriters have written me, asking if I could provide advice on how they can protect their screenplay from theft. I usually tell screenwriters that most producers will not go through the process of raising a gazillion dollars without compensating the screenwriter fairly.
Writing a screenplay-hold that template!
Or it may be that in the middle of my script things drag along too slowly–a common problem of first drafts. In that case, reminding myself that the traditional story model calls for escalating conflict can lead to better consideration of how I can add incidents that ramp up the tension and drama.
Screenwriters have to make their own luck!
For filmmakers and screenwriters alike, one of the great things about Jurgen is his ability to make things happen. As you will read in this week’s Filmmaking Stuff guest article – When Jurgen was starting out, he quickly learned to stop asking permission and as a result, he carved his screenwriting career.
How to Write Your Movie Script
Based on my decade of making movies (and prior to that, working as a reader for a producer in New York City) – I am in the final stages of production. This screenwriting system will be based on a new step-by-step, fill in the blank approach to writing a movie script.
screenwriting software
If you’re a writer, or a writer director or a writer-director-producer, or simply a producer working with a writer, sooner or later it …